"While many of the conservative defenders of Wall Street may be quick to portray protests against the American financial establishment as driven by envy of its wealth or far-left ideologies, the truth is that people have a very simple reason to be angry — because Wall Street’s actions made tens of millions of people dramatically poorer through no fault of their own. In 2010, the International Monetary Fund and World Bank conducted studies of the effects of the global recession — caused largely by Wall Street financial instruments that were poorly regulated by government policies — and found that the recession threw 64 million people into extreme poverty"

"Modeled on the "Arab Spring" uprisings that swept through Egypt, Tunisia, Syria and other countries this year, Occupy Wall Street is a "leaderless resistance movement" orchestrated through Twitter, Facebook and other social media tools. The Twitter hashtags #OccupyWallStreet and #TakeWallStreet lit up Saturday with coordination messages and solidarity tweets."

"A hallmark of leftist activism is the amalgam of diverse movements present at protests. Alexa O’Brien, a spokesperson for US Day of Rage, one of the groups participating in the protest, says they are focused on reinforcing the First Amendment: the rights to peaceably assemble and to free speech on public sidewalks."

"I don't think anybody that anybody can look at the political and economic landscape we have now in Washington and not come to the conclusion that the system is broken, The main focus is the toxic and corrupting effect of unlimited money on the political situation, which would be called a Corporate-ocracy, not Democracy."

"Throughout the afternoon hundreds of demonstrators gathered in parks and plazas in Lower Manhattan. They held teach-ins, engaged in discussion and debate and waved signs with messages like “Democracy Not Corporatization” or Revoke Corporate Personhood.”

"I'm sending a message to the powers-that-be in our society that people cannot be stepped on, disregarded and treated with gross neglect as the people of this city, this state and this country have been treated for too, too long," said a man who identified himself as Beau Johnson, a Vietnam veteran from Staten Island. "It's up to all different generations to try to be here, and to share our stories, our anecdotes, our feeling and passion for life, to be a loving people filled with family and community and dedication to one another, instead of to the mighty dollar bill, which makes an enemy of all of us."

"People had gathered near Wall Street with backpacks and sleeping bags to search for a place to camp, but police were there to keep them away from the main financial area.
The protesters instead headed for Trinity Place, which is only around 1,000ft from Wall Street. Police put barricades around the famous bull statue on Broadway."